Condiment packets are frequently used in the restaurant industry as a convenient and low cost method of supplying customers with food condiments such as relish, mustard, ketchup and mayonnaise. Traditionally, restaurant owners dispense condiments to customers by filling condiment trays with various condiment packets and letting the customers take what they need.
However, this conventional system of dispensing condiments has several major flaws. The first and perhaps most important flaw is that the condiment tray method is not very sanitary. Condiment packets left in open trays can become contaminated over time with bacteria and germs from the hands of customers who reach in and grab condiments out by hand. Frequently many customers will grab too many condiments on the first try and drop extra condiment packets back into the tray with their fingers. Even though condiment packets are sealed, bacteria and germs left on the outside surfaces of the condiment packet may still end up in the condiment itself once the packet is torn open.
Another common drawback to condiment dispenser trays is that this practice allows customers to waste condiments. Some customers will grab many more condiment packets than they plan to use for the meal and frequently bring back the extra condiments for home use. While this practice may benefit the consumer, it results in extra cost and reduced profits for the restaurant owner who buys the condiments. Other customers who grab too many condiments will simply throw them away after the meal which is bad for the environment due to the added volume of plastic waste produced.
Yet another drawback to condiment trays is that this practice does not lend itself to an easy way of monitoring condiment usage by the restaurant management. Condiment trays are refilled either when empty or close to empty and normally there is no exact accounting for condiment usage as typically the trays are filled with loose condiments poured out from a larger container such as a storage bin. Clearly, in spite of the high technology processes used to produce condiment packets themselves, the dispensing of these same condiments still relies on arcane old methods such as has been described. Indeed, there is a need to provide a modern approach that can address these issues of hygiene control, wasteful practices and poor inventory control.